Video game film adaptations haven’t had the best track record. They’ve been historically maligned by critics; some justly (Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is, in fact, that bad), others unjustly (Mortal Kombat remains a 90s camp classic). Now we have Rampage, based on the classic giant monster arcade game, being marketed as “the best-reviewed video game movie of all time.” But despite this dubious designation, Rampage can barely be called an adaptation. It deviates from and adds so much to its narratively sparse source material that it’s essentially its own beast. Continue reading →